page_title: Lucas di Grassi
section_title: Formula One (2010)
hierarchical_section_title: Lucas di Grassi / Formula One (2010)
caption_attribution_description: Formula One 2010 Rd.3 Malaysian GP: Lucas Di Grassi (Virgin) during Friday 2nd Free Practice session.
context_page_description: Lucas Tucci di Grassi is a Brazilian racing driver who competes in the all-electric FIA Formula E Championship for Audi Sport ABT Schaffler. He became the FIA Formula E World Champion in 2016-2017, also achieved 3 overall podiums and best result ever for a Brazilian driver at Le Mans 24h, including a FIA WEC Vice World Championship in 2016, competed in FIA Formula 1 in 2010, Vice-Champion in FIA Formula 2 and World Champion of FIA Formula 3 at the Macau GP in 2005.
  Born in São Paulo, di Grassi began racing karts at the age of ten, and achieved early success in the regional and later national kart series. He progressed to car racing in 2002 and was the runner up in the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil and Formula 3 Sudamericana championships. Di Grassi took two consecutive victories in the 2004 British Formula Three Championship and progressed to the Euro Series the following year which saw him clinch a solitary race victory and was the winner of the non-championship Macau Grand Prix. After that, he spent the next three years in the GP2 Series where he won four races and finished the runner-up in 2007 to Timo Glock.
context_section_description: Di Grassi was announced as one of two drivers of the brand new Virgin Racing team on 15 December 2009 and would be partnered by his former GP2 Series rival Timo Glock in a deal predicted by BBC Radio Sheffield. An important factor in his decision was the chance to work with John Booth, the Virgin team principal. It was reported by The Daily Telegraph that di Grassi had also provided Virgin with £5 million worth of sponsorship. Writing in The Guardian's 2010 Formula One supplement, Alan Henry and Rob Bagchi predicted that Glock would outperform di Grassi throughout the season. He retired from the opening two rounds of the season (Bahrain and Australia) due to hydraulic problems. However his fortunes improved at Sepang where he took his first (and best finish) of the season with a 14th in spite of having to do the second half of the race in fuel conservation mode due to pick-up and fuel capacity problems.
  Di Grassi struggled at the Chinese Grand Prix which had him start from the pit lane. He circulated behind HRT driver Karun Chandhok until he retired with clutch failure after completing nine laps. Further issues arose in Spain as di Grassi battled with car setup and was the last driver to finish the race, and retired early in Monaco due to his right-rear wheel becoming loose at his pit stop. At the Turkish Grand Prix, problems striking multiple Cosworth-engine cars elevated di Grassi to 19th although he had to manage his engine to finish it. Hydraulics issues further afflicted him in Canada but still managed to finish the race and only needed one pit stop to reach the conclusion of the European Grand Prix two weeks later before a further hydraulics issue ended his participation in the British Grand Prix after nine laps.
  A further retirement followed at the Hockenheimring from a damaged rear suspension from hitting a kerb too hard, and had further difficulty at the Hungaroring when he was put a lap down due to a loose wheel but still managed to finish. In variable weather conditions at the Belgian Grand Prix, he battled Lotus's Heikki Kovalainen in the closing ten laps which ended in the latter's favour by two seconds before another suspension issue ended his Italian Grand Prix with three laps left. Di Grassi had impressed the Virgin Racing engineers with his feedback but Booth had not been satisfied with his pace against Glock and scouted an alternative driver that ended with Booth coming into contact with the Belgian racer Jérôme d'Ambrosio. Di Grassi was the last classified driver in the Singapore Grand Prix, and did not start the Japanese Grand Prix as he crashed on the way to the grid.
  At the inaugural Korean Grand Prix, di Grassi lost control of his car while trying to overtake Hispania driver Sakon Yamamoto and crashed into the barriers on the 26th lap. He struggled with further problems with his suspension at his home race in Brazil, and despite his team's mechanics rectifying the issue at his mid-race pit stop, he was not classified in the final results. At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, di Grassi chose to make a pit stop for new tyres during a safety car period and managed them until the end of the race. He ended the season 24th in the Drivers' Championship and scored no points. On 19 December, di Grassi won the Desafio Internacional das Estrelas, a karting event organised by Felipe Massa. Two days later, he was left without a drive, after Virgin announced d'Ambrosio to partner Glock in 2011.
caption: Di Grassi driving for Virgin Racing at the Malaysian Grand Prix where he secured his best finish in Formula One.
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